


Keith x Reader - Runaway

by ponyboys_nipples



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Comfort, Cursing/Swearing, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Mentions of Death, Other, Reader is gender neutral, mentions of unrequited love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2019-01-04 16:08:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12172269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ponyboys_nipples/pseuds/ponyboys_nipples
Summary: Anonymous asked:"May I request a scenario where the reader (who's Keith's crush/best friend) starts to become aware of her developing feelings for Keith but is terrified of them bc last time she developed feelings they went unrequited + the person died before she could tell them so she feels pressured, but she also knows there's alot going on (ie universal war) + she thinks he likes someone else, so she decides to leave in a pod to clear her head and leaves Keith a note and he later decides to go after her."You have a crush on Keith, and you're torn on your decision: do you tell him how you feel and risk ruining your friendship, or let things play out the way they did before?





	Keith x Reader - Runaway

**Author's Note:**

> Reposted from my tumblr for Voltron writing (vldinsertstm)  
> written June 14th, 2017  
> requested by Anonymous (see summary)  
> I edited the story to fix some characterization issues, as well as some spelling errors.  
> Enjoy!

_You couldn’t do this again. You couldn’t love someone again. You didn’t want to break again._

Keith’s your best friend. You love him dearly, and you’d do anything for him; hell, you followed him into space to help him in a fight against an evil alien warlord using the power of ancient robot lions. You always considered your bond with him to be pretty strong, compared to how he acted with others. You always had each other’s backs, and you can talk about anything with each other (well, almost anything). You care about Keith a lot. You really do. But lately, you realized your love for him was becoming more romantic than platonic, and it scared you.

You didn’t have much luck when it came to romance. The last person you found yourself attached to didn’t seem to the return the feelings, as they appeared very infatuated with another person. Not only that, but they _died_ before you had a chance to tell them how you felt. What happened left you feeling broken; you’d spend nights awake and crying, wishing there was something you could’ve done to save them from being killed. You wish you had told them how you felt. Hardly a day went by that you didn’t think about them and regret the words left unsaid. Thinking about it, remembering how you watched them die...it hurt.

You found yourself very closed off to others after they passed away. You pushed others away, didn’t go out much, hardly spoke. You didn’t do much academically until you attended pilot school at the Garrison, which is where you met Keith. Despite him being so reserved and closed-off in nature, Keith made it a mission to get you to open up to him. He spent months trying to figure you out, and even now he still doesn’t know about the whole deceased-love-life situation; he just thinks someone close to you died, like a family member. You didn’t want to get attached to anyone ever again, but Keith wormed his way into your life, and regardless you’re glad he did. Being close to someone again felt nice, but you were still scared to lose Keith. So you followed him into space, and swore you’d fight by Voltron’s side. You may have not been a Paladin, but you still did all you could.

Everyday you worried about Keith and his well-being. He's practically always in battle and constantly fending off evil. He doesn't like to admit it, but he is really hot-headed and sometimes his "instincts" lead him to do dangerous things. You genuinely worry that one day he’ll be injured horribly, or die in battle- you’re horrified that this will end up the same way your last crush did. You want to tell him about your feelings, so should anything happen to either one of you, Keith would know. But, by admitting your feelings, you would also risk ruining your friendship with him. You’d rather be his best friend forever and always feel a little sting in your heart than to tell him, find out he doesn’t feel the same, and ruin everything. You felt pressured by the past to tell Keith, but you couldn't do it. Not now.

…

Another day, another battle with Zarkon. You, Allura and Coran sat in the castle, keeping up defenses, as always, while the lions fought off Galra ships. The lions always seem to win, but how far could their luck go? There’s been too many times where death or failure came close.

After getting far enough away from the Galra, the Lions boarded the castle and you all teleported away via wormhole. The paladins returned to the main room, exhausted. Lance and Hunk dramatically collapsed, as they usually did; Shiro and Pidge wandered off to do their own thing, while Keith chatted with Allura and Coran as they adjusted some of the ships controls to accommodate another upcoming wormhole jump.

You kept turning over the idea of telling Keith how you felt in your head. All you had to do was tell him. You never knew what would happen 'til you did. You stared at him from across the room, wondering what could be in your favor if you just told him. But the more you think about how much you like Keith, the more you think about all of the factors that could ruin your happiness, which just made you more stressed. You want to tell him, but he already has a lot going, considering he’s literally fighting for the freedom of the universe, and he’s still trying to figure out the mysteries of his family.

_But what if things turn out the way they did last time?_

You didn’t realize you were staring at Keith and Allura until one of them called out to you. You looked up a bit, observing their concerned expressions. Without a word you, you left the room quietly as Keith said your name once more. You had to clear your head. One side of you says to tell him and the other says to keep your mouth shut. You left a note on your bedroom door, saying you’ll be back, and leave to the docking area to board an escape pod.

You put the pod on autopilot and sat back, pulling your knees to your chest and wrapping your arms around your legs. You lowered your forehead and breathed in heavily, thinking.

_What am I going to do?_

…

Keith followed you down the hall, but after several twists and turns, he lost you. He went to your room and read the note you’d stuck to your door.

_I took a pod for a little ride. I just need to clear my head, and I’ll be back later. See you. -(y/n)_

Keith ran back to the main room and showed the note to Allura and Coran. He tried to think of all of the things that could’ve possibly gone wrong, analyzing your words and actions over the past few days in his head, and debated whether he should go after you or not. He really cared about you and couldn’t stay calm. Why did you leave? Were you missing the person you lost? What happened? Allura encouraged him to go. Not only would you need comforting, you’re also a terrible pilot and someone would have to come get you anyway. He ran to his Lion and took off, trying to imagine where you’d gone.

…

Eventually, after an hour or so, your escape pod had run out of power. The lights of the buttons, control pad and the dome light clicked off, and you were left to face the stars in front of you. It was almost serene, just to sit here in the galaxy. The peaceful atmosphere didn’t last long however, as Galra ships approached you. They surrounded your pod, and purple gravity beam shot out from the largest ship, dragging your pod towards them.

You panicked. You tried to open the escape pod but with no power, it was locked. Even if you were capable of getting it open, you’d still be stuck in the gravitational pull. You put your hands on the glass and searched around the scene frantically, looking for anyone or anything that could help you, which is when you spotted the Red Lion not too far in the distance.

You were glad to see Keith. He had come after you, but he wasn’t fast enough. The Galra successfully sucked your little ship into their docking area, and armed soldiers surrounded you, banging on the glass window with the butt of their guns as hard as they could. You screamed and grasped your chair as the glass shattered and a soldier tried grabbing at you. You dodged to the side and jumped out of the broken window, only to be grabbed by your hair and thrown on the floor. You felt a foot on your back and a gun pressed tightly against your cheek. You closed your eyes and braced for death. If this is where it all ended, then your biggest regret was never telling Keith how you felt.

The shot never came, because after a loud _clang_ , the soldier collapsed on the ground in front of you. You opened your eyes and lifted your head to see Keith with his bayard fighting off other members of the Galra. You went to stand but let yourself fall against the floor again after feeling a sharp sting, and realizing you’d cut your leg on the broken glass of your poor escape pod. The ringing of swords clashing and guns shooting combined with the noise in your head and you felt weak. Helpless. Incapable.

The fighting seemed to go on and on. Keith hadn’t killed many soldiers, but fought off enough to buy time for you two to escape. He ran over to you and slipped his hands carefully under your knees and back, and carried you as quickly as he could to the nearest exit. You wrapped your arms around him and buried your face in his neck. He held tight to you as you floated out to his lion. You felt so stupid; you should have known the Galra were still out and about, searching for signs of Voltron or the castle. You don’t know what you would’ve done if Keith hadn’t followed you- and to think what could've happened if you hadn't left a note!

There was only one seat in the lion and you couldn’t stand very well with your injured leg, so Keith awkwardly let you sit in his lap on the ride back. A few smaller Galra ships followed after you, but it wasn’t anything Keith couldn’t handle. After you guys had outrun or destroyed anyone following you, Keith slowed his lion down a little.

“Are you okay?” Keith finally asked, quietly.

“No,” you replied. No use in lying. He already knew you weren’t okay. There was a pause between the two of you.

“What’s going on? You know you can talk to me about anything.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I think you do. It’s clearly important if you ran away over it.”

You didn’t respond.

“Is it about the person who died?” Keith asked.

“Sort of,” you croaked. He kept slowing down the lion. He wasn’t going to let you guys go back to the castle if you didn’t tell him.

“Did...did I ever tell you who died?” you questioned.

“No, but you can tell me,” he said, looking at you. “I really care about you, (y/n). I want to know what’s wrong. I was terrified when you ran off, I was so scared that you’d get hurt. I want to be here for you." He paused for a moment. "I wish you’d let me.”

You were silent for a few moments before speaking again. “The person who died…was the last person I loved.” You paused. “He liked someone else, I guess. So I never bothered to tell them. When I felt like it was time to tell them…they died.” You looked at Keith. “They died, Keith.”

Tears pricked at the corners of your eyes. “I still miss them. But I’m over it, I guess. I like someone else now, but I’m terrified they’ll die before I have the chance to say anything, or if I do tell them, they won’t return the feelings and it’ll ruin everything. I don't wanna be alone again, Keith."

You started crying hard and covered your face with your hands. Keith wrapped his arms around you, not sure what to say. He held you against his chest, cradling you like a child. 

From the outside, Keith looked cold. People who didn’t know him very well would think he didn’t have much compassion for others. But it was quite the opposite, otherwise he wouldn’t have worked so damn hard to get you to open up once in a while. Like you, he was scared to get close to other people. He lost both of his parents. They left him feeling rejected and helpless. He pushed people away before they had the chance to do the same, which is exactly what you were doing.

“I love you, Keith,” you said in between sobs. “I love you so damn much, and everyday I’m scared I’m going to lose you in this awful intergalactic battle we’ve been sucked into.” You looked up at him to see tears streaming down his face too. "I'm fucking terrified, (y/n)."

“You’re so damn reckless,” you laughed lightly as your tears continued. “I’m so scared you’re gonna sacrifice yourself or be injured horribly, or just..die. On top of that, I know you don’t return the feelings.” You looked down. “I’m sorry if I put you in an uncomfortable position. I just don’t want things to happen the way they did before.”

Before you have the chance to turn away from him completely, Keith presses his lips into yours. His kiss starts out rough, but softens as you kiss him back. He pulls away to kiss the tears off your cheeks before burying his face in your neck and laughing.

You remained in his lap, blushing heavily and giggling. “What?”

“I love you too, (y/n),” he said. “I’ve loved you for so long.”

When you arrived back at the castle, Keith carried you inside and tended to the cuts on your leg. He kept asking if you were okay or if the Galra hurt you at all. He looked so cute, getting all worked up over a couple of scrapes on you. You cupped his face and kissed his nose, telling him over and over again you were okay now.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Sorry this piece is kinda old, I just reposted it from my tumblr account. I'll get to making new stories soon, hopefully. I have a couple of ship fics I wanna get around to writing. Also, sorry if there's any spelling errors I forgot to correct; I'll probably come back and fix them later.  
> Want to request a Voltron reader insert? Send me an ask on vldinsertstm on tumblr! Just make sure to check my bio/description to see if the inbox is open or not.


End file.
